A Fun Road Trip! Or Is It?
by McShizzle350
Summary: Percy just got an RV for his birthday! And The Seven, Nico and Reyna are going on a road trip! But this trip isn't gonna be all daisies and sunshine. Troubles will come up. Everyone's fighting. And 1 group -Jason, Piper and Leo- has it the worst. What's testing their friendship? Monsters? Or love?
1. Good and Bad Birthday Surprises

**So, this is my second FanFic, and it's about Percy Jackson again, mostly because this is the only fandom I read about. (I love Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Maze Runner too, but I think it ended well, and I have nothing to add to it).**

 **Percy**

'Mom! Paul! C'mon! Where're you taking me?' I complained. It was August 18, my 18th birthday. Mom and Paul had blindfolded me and were dragging me out of our house to show me my "enormous" gift.

Mom had recently started writing a new series about the adventures on our Argo II, and she had earned tons of money, because fans wanted more of me and bought her books immediately.

When they finally removed my blindfold, the sight in front of me was amazing. An RV stood mighty proud in front of me.

'Wha- Mom! Thanks!' I hugged her quickly and then ran to check it out. As soon as I entered, a huge group, consisting of Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Reyna, Nico, Piper and Leo, tackled me, screaming, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' Then they pushed Annabeth towards me and yelled, 'HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!'

I kissed her, and everyone moved away to give me some room. Annabeth then asked me, 'Well, what's my gift?' I smirked.

'It's in my room,' I said and ran to get it. When I come back, she looked at it, surprised, then said, 'Oh. My. Gods!' She tackled me with a hug.

In case you're wondering, I got her "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". We all saw the movie a few weeks ago, and she's wanted to read the book ever since, but she'd already used up her allowance from her parents for the month. Mom and the others wanted to buy it themselves, but I told them not to do so and got her her favourite paperback edition.

'So,' I said, 'what did you get me, _mon petite amie?_

She smiled and brought out something that I would kill… a gazillion monsters for.

It was "Assassin's Creed – Black Flag III"!

I looked at the guys and said, 'My house. Next weekend. We are gonna rock this game!' I said.

We –the rest of us- were checking out the RV's rooms, when I noticed something weird. Jason and Piper were standing really far from each other. I stopped and asked them, 'Okay, stop.' Everyone did.

I pointed at Jason and Piper. 'What's going on between you two?'

Jason looked extremely mad, like, _You noticed?! You horrible, horrible person!_

He started to say something, but Piper beat him to it, saying, 'I broke up with him.'

I was pretty stunned. 'Why?'

Piper smiled and said, 'I noticed that Jason started carrying feelings for Reyna –don't say no, Jason! I'm a daughter of Aphrodite, I know! So, I gladly stepped aside.'

Before I could ask what she meant by gladly, Mom entered with a bag, 'So, I've packed a bunch of clothes, your brush –Annabeth, make sure he brushes- and as always, your swimming trunks!'

I was confused. 'Uh, for what?'

'Well, your road trip. Didn't you guys tell him?' Mom questioned.

I stared at the others. 'What road trip?' I asked them accusingly.

'Well, that was our gift to you. A road trip,' Hazel said. I stared and they started getting uncomfortable.

'Where only I drive and you guys sit back and relax?' They shuffled their feet a bit more.

I smirked. 'HELL YES!' They smiled.

Just then, I got a phone call (I know you're thinking, _Oh no! A phone! A monster will attack!_ Well, even if it does attack, it's not like it can defeat us). It was from Rick **(Not the real one, consider it a tribute to the original who gave us some awesome stories.)**.

'Hey guys, give me a moment,' I said and stepped out of the RV.

Oh, I almost forgot you don't know Rick. He's this kid who Rachel met in Goode (She became fed up with Clarion Ladies' Academy, so she asked Hazel to manipulate the Mist to make her parents think that she should join Goode again). She realized that he could see through the Mist, though not perfectly (I found this out when he came in to the stall next to mine in the bathroom during a match with a cheerleader who was actually an _empousa_ who realized that he could see the Mist, and I had to save him from a near-death experience).

'Hey, where are you, it's time to present the book,' Rachel said once I answered the call. I slapped myself on the head. Of course! Today was the day my new book about the Greek Gods was coming out, and I was supposed to read an excerpt from the book at Manhattan Mall today.

'Shit, I forgot! Okay, how much time do I have left to get there?'

'You're already ten minutes late!'

'Oh, shit! Okay, I'm on my way. Entertain them with some Percabeth moments,' I told him.

'I'm pretty sure they're tired of watching you two,' she said lazily.

'Oh,' I said, surprised, before continuing, 'Well, what about Jasper?'

'It's Jiper, and they hate that ship,' she retorted.

'Liper?'

'Nothing on camera.'

'What about Jeyna?'

'Nada on the camera, bruh.'

'What about Solangelo? The people love those two!'

'Are you frickin' kidding me? Those two have dates in places like the graveyard!'

'So?'

'Nothing. On. CAMERA!' Oh, gods. What now? Then it struck me.

'Oh! Frazel!' Silence.

'Actually, that's not a bad idea. Okay, I'll put in some clips of those two, but you better come over fast. Okay, bye,' she said, but just before she cut the call, I said, 'Wait!'

'Yeah?' I smirked.

'Why are you using Rick's phone?'

'Oh, um, that? Oh, it's nothing, really,' she said flusteredly.

'You're dating him, aren't you?' I felt her smile through the phone.

'Well, I just asked Apollo if I could date people, as I've never dated anyone and I want to. He said no. I said that maybe I should retire then. He said okay,' she told me.

I smiled and said, 'I'll be there in twenty minutes.'

I went back inside and told the others the news.

Piper sighed. 'Okay, fine, but we're sitting in the car and I need your phone. We need music to really dance it up.'

'Aww, no music for me?' I pouted.

'No, now come on, let's go.'

 **And… done. I hope you liked it. I will try my absolute best to update fast. Plus, my friend is contributing, so. Review, please! It'll make the update quicker!**


	2. A Little Secret

**Well, here's Chapter 2! I hope y'all like it!**

Frank

Percy had quite the time driving his new RV. Rock music (Fall Out Boy to be exact) was playing in the background. Not sure which one, though. Something about one-night stands **(If you haven't already guessed, I pity you. It's "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs")**.

Piper was navigating in the front, Jason was sitting in one of the rooms sulking, Annabeth was taking a nap (Percy insisted after he found out that she stayed up all night). Hazel was sitting with me and telling Percy to go slower and being very scared. At one point, Percy stayed at the light for a second too long, and the guy behind us honked and screamed, 'Out of the way, jackass!' Percy retaliated by showing him one of the fingers he had, resulting in Hazel exclaiming, 'Percy!' and fanning her face in that cute way of hers.

Nico was dancing it off with Reyna. Those two _finally_ let loose after our little Karaoke Night at Camp Half-Blood **(That's my other story, go ahead and check it out if you want!)** (Being fellow praetor with a non-social person who is so scary you're afraid to ask if they want some coffee _and_ dating someone who has an extremely brooding Dark Knight for a brother is not easy). Reyna had not been around when Piper said Jason liked her in front of everyone else, and Nico and the others were smart enough but she had seemed hopeful, as if she still wanted to be with Then I looked at Leo, and my heart sank. I remembered that fateful day **(I honestly don't know why they say "fateful" –or is it "faithful"? day, but eh. It goes along with the mood)**.

~Line Break~ (I honestly don't know how to do one, so).

 _Flashback_

 _Me, Leo and Calypso were at the_ _Metropolitan Museum of Art. Leo was showing her around excitedly. I mean, it's not every day your immortal girlfriend agrees to step out of the camp so that you can take her on a "romantic" trip. So far, it seems more like educational, but who am I to ruin Leo's happiness? That's Calypso's job._

 _When we reached the Greek and Roman art section, Calypso gave out a barely audible gasp. I understood why. There in front of us stood the according-to-the-others-not-so great Odysseus_ **(I honestly don't know if there is a statue of him there, and I'm too lazy to check, so just go with it)** _. Seeing her old flame must have been the last straw before what happened next._

 _Leo must have heard her gasp too, because he turned around and questioned, 'Why? What happened? Are_ _you okay?' She smiled and said, 'I'm fine, my dragon-flying savior,' she said, putting on a brave smile._

 _Leo was obviously not convinced._

' _What is it?' Leo questioned, concern ringing in his voice._

 _Calypso gave him a sad smile and said, 'Remember how I wasn't well after I left Ogygia? Well,' she paused, 'The effects are getting worse. I'm getting weaker and weaker day by day. I can_ feel _death coming closer. I think,' she paused again, and then continued, 'I should separate from all of you.'_

 _Leo was so surprised. Then he gave a little laugh and said, 'No way. You still look as beautiful as ever, my dear_ mamasita.'

 _Calypso herself was holding back tears. She said, 'No, my dear Leo, I am not making a dumb joke. I am telling you the truth.'_

 _He stared at her. He realized that she really wasn't fooling around. I saw him holding back tears. He tried to argue, 'Chiron or the gods can help.' She gave him that sad smile that was breaking his heart._

' _Chiron already tried everything he could, did he not? And the gods are already angry that I've escaped my punishment. I doubt they would even consider helping me.'_

 _Leo was trying very hard to keep those tears in. 'Calypso, please, no, there has to be a way-' he managed to say before his voice broke._

' _I am sorry, Leo, but it has to be this way. I will miss you,' she said, then to lighten the mood, 'or your dumb jokes.' It didn't work._

 _Leo and Calypso finally pulled each other together for the goodbye._

' _Goodbye, Leo,' Calypso said ruefully._

' _Bye, Calypso,' Leo said, doing a good job of hiding his sadness. I guess he had good practice from how we were treating him on the_ Argo II _._ _I have never known what it feels like to be an odd wheel, but it probably isn't amazing._

 _Calypso smiled that sad smile and kissed Leo on the forehead. As she did, she began to change. She began to turn into pink, beautifully fragrant petals, like Oogway in_ Kung Fu Panda _. (Yeah, that's where my mind went when this sad moment was unfolding. Deal with it.)_

 _First her feet changed, then her hands, then her body, until finally only her head remained. She gave us a real, happy smile, and said, 'You made these last few months beautiful for me, Leo. I thank you, and I want to say, I love you.'_

 _Leo could only manage, 'I love-' before she disappeared._

 _Leo let a tear trickle down his cheek. Then another, and another, until he was crying horribly. I could only try and imagine what he must be going through. I'd probably have done the same if Hazel left me that way._

 _I flung myself at him and pulled him into a bear-hug. He hugged back after a few seconds. We separated after a while, and he said, 'Don't tell anyone the whole thing. Just say she died if they ask.'_

 _I nodded. I wasn't really sure why he would want me to not tell, but it's his wish. Besides, he's already depressed. Who am I to hurt him more?_

 _Flashback ends_

And that's what that is. I looked back at Leo, and noticed something weird. He was staring at a particular someone (And no, it wasn't Hazel. If it were he wouldn't be alive now, would he?), who happened to be…Piper.

Piper screamed, 'All right, people let's now switch to pop music!' She changed the song, and everyone –I repeat, everyone- sang along. Who doesn't love the King of Pop? **(Person(s) who guesses the song right will get a shout-out next chapter!)**

 _It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark  
Under the moonlight you see a sight that almost stops your heart  
You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it  
You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes  
You're paralyzed_

 _'Cause this is thriller, thriller at night  
And no one's gonna save you from the beast about to strike  
You know it's thriller, thriller night  
You're fighting for your life inside a killer thriller, tonight_

 _You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run  
You feel the cold hand and wonder if you'll ever see the sun  
You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination  
But all the while you hear a creature creepin' up behind  
You're out of time_

 _'Cause this is thriller, thriller at night  
There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes  
You know it's thriller, thriller night  
You're fighting for your life inside a killer thriller tonight_

 _Night creatures call  
And the dead start to walk in their masquerade  
There's no escapin' the jaws of the alien this time  
(They're open wide)  
This is the end of your life_

 _They're out to get you; there's demons closing in on every side  
They will possess you unless you change that number on your dial  
Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together, yeah  
All through the night I'll save you from the terror on the screen  
I'll make you see_

 _That it's a thriller, thriller night  
'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghoul  
Would ever dare try  
This is thriller, thriller night  
So let me hold you tight and share a killer, diller chiller  
Thriller here tonight_

 _That it's a thriller, thriller night  
'Cause I can thrill you more than any ghoul  
Could ever dare try  
This is thriller, thriller night  
Girl so let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller  
I'm gonna thrill ya tonight_

 _Darkness falls across the land  
The midnight hour is close at hand  
Creatures crawl in search of blood  
To terrorize y'alls neighbourhood  
And whosoever shall be found  
Without the soul for getting down  
Must stand and face the hounds of hell  
And rot inside a corpse's shell_

 _The foulest stench is in the air  
The funk of forty thousand years  
And grizzly ghouls from every tomb  
Are closing in to seal your doom  
And though you fight to stay alive  
Your body starts to shiver  
For no mere mortal can resist  
The evil of the thriller_

'HAHAHAHAHAHA!' Everyone laughed, mimicking each other. It felt good to be with them. I pulled Hazel closer –unfortunately, not in the backseat of a Rover, but an RV- and laughed along with everyone else, feeling happy that I'm not on a dumb quest sailing to possible death, but on a weekend getaway with people I love, a lot.

 **There you go! Be happy! I might not update until Friday or something, but I'll try. Oh, and if you're wondering why I never do disclaimers, it's because –duh- I'm not Rick Riordan.**


	3. Friendship Is Fragile, Too, You Know

**I'm back, people! I got a bunch of reviews and follows and favorites after uploading Chapter 2, and that motivated me a lot, so please continue the reviews! I need to know if people actually like this! Also, have none of you guessed the song? I think you have, but forgot to say. It's pretty obvious which song it is, but I'm asking anyway. But enough chit-chat. I present… Chapter 3!**

 **Piper**

When we reached Manhattan Mall, Percy handed me his phone.

'Don't put any Fall Out Boy. I like them. We'll listen to them on our way. Okay?' I agreed hastily, nodding my head everywhere.

As soon as Percy left, however, Leo ran up to me, grinning, I turned up American Beauty/American Psycho and we started dancing, and for a moment, we were like our usual self, laughing and being happy, until we abruptly stopped, looking at our intertwined fingers and separated immediately, turning back to our normal less talkative ways.

I missed that Leo. Frank wouldn't tell me exactly what happened with Calypso. At least then I could've figured out how to help. When they had told us, they said she ran away as she was very sick. No one really believed it, but we nodded along because Leo looked pretty horrible.

I'm not even sure why we started to talk less, exactly. I was lost in thought for quite a long time, apparently, because Frank came over and shook me and said, 'Hey, you okay?'

I smiled. 'I'm fine,' I assured him and pretended to check out songs, when in reality, I was reliving the good times I and Leo had shared.

Percy came back after about half an hour.

'So, ready to kick start our little road trip, everyone?' We all cheered, except for Jason.

'Aww, little wittle Gwace is sad,' Percy mocked in a baby voice. Jason aimed a kick at him, although I saw a hint of a smile on his face. That's what I loved (Not _love_ love, okay, you immature little kids?) about Percy. He could bring a smile to the face of an extremely angry and resentful troll with just one little dialogue.

As we left the parking lot, I turned up the music, and _All We Know_ began to play. Percy snatched the phone away and put on _Lean On_. As I stared at the navigation, I listened to the lyrics and wondered if Percy chose the song because he liked it, it was a good song, or because he wanted to lift my mood. I doubt its number 3, anyway.

We drove all the way to Columbus. Night had fallen and everyone was pretty tired. Percy stopped at a hotel called "The Blackwell". We stepped out and stretched.

'Okay guys,' Percy began, 'so Piper, Annabeth and Leo can go get us a room. Beauty Queen, make it a suite, all right? Because I'm a dangerous man with some money in my pocket,' he said, winking.

'Obviously, I mean, who knows how many cheese burgers and pizzas he'd buy, am I right?' Everyone laughed at my statement.

'Okay. Jason, Frank, you're helping out with the bags. Nico, Hazel, Reyna, check if anyone left any shit inside. Okay, let's go!'

'Don't you mean, "Autobots, roll out!"?' This uproar of laughter was caused by Frank.

Percy smirked. 'So I'm Optimus Prime? Hurray!'

Frank looked aghast. 'I didn't- I just- Gah!' Percy, Frank and Jason moved to take the bags out, the three of them joking. Nico put a protective arm around Hazel and led her inside the RV, Reyna following close behind.

I went up to the receptionist and smiled. 'Hi,' I said.

He looked up, smiled back and said, 'Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?' Upon seeing my horrified look at his poor job of hitting on me, he said quickly, 'Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, my friend dared me to do that and I just had to, I'm so sorry!'

I laughed and said, 'I figured. I don't think anybody even says that anymore.'

'Oh, they do. A girl at the bar last night tried it on me,' he said, and I laughed. Behind me, Annabeth gasped as if she had got hurt. I saw Leo rushing her to the washroom, probably to apply cold water on her burn wound. But why would Leo burn her? He'd need to show some extreme emotion for him to catch fire. Oh, no. Could he have been feeling jealou-

The receptionist snapped his fingers in front of my face, ringing me back to reality.

'Hey, you there?'

I blinked. 'Yeah. So, a room for nine. Make one a queen size.'

'Uh, they're all king size.'

'Oh. Then make it eight people.'

He nodded, and then looked back at the computer screen.

I ran through the hallway until I caught up with them. Leo was continually saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,' while Annabeth kept muttering, 'It's okay, Leo, really, it's fine.'

I took Annabeth's hand and pulled her to the washroom. As we walked there, Leo said, 'I'm so sorry,' once again, and I don't know why, but I snapped at him.

'Shut up, Leo. Just… shut up.' You've done enough already.' Leo looked stunned. I turned away and began to walk away. I didn't even turn back when I heard a sob.

She was fine after a little ambrosia. When we reached the lobby, I saw that the others were waiting with their bags. Percy pushed my bag into my arms, threw his on the ground and ran to check on Annabeth.

Frank and Hazel were comforting Leo, who had his head in his hands. Hazel came up to me when she saw me and said, 'You shouldn't have yelled at him, you know.'

'I know,' I sighed, then continued, 'Well, I'll get the room keys,' I said, desperate to get away from the others, and walked over to the guy sitting at the reception.

He smiled when he saw me and said, 'Hey. Here's your room key.'

'Thanks,' I said, smiling back **(I know, it's a lot of smiles, I'll try to reduce it, 'kay?)**.

I started to walk away, when he said, 'Hey! Wait up a sec!' I turned to see him running towards me.

'Hey, so my shift is over…'

'Okay…'

'And I was going to grab a cup of coffee…'

'Mm-hmm…'

'So… you wanna come with?' I smiled. Then I looked at Leo. He'd lifted his head from his hands and was looking at me, waiting for my answer.

''Kay.' I threw the key to Reyna. 'It's floor 19. Go up. I'll be there in an hour.' I then held out my hand. He grinned and took it.

We were in a coffee shop about half a mile **(I honestly don't know how much a mile is, because I'm not American, but you might be knowing it, so don't bother reading this dumb author's note at all)** away from the hotel.

'So, Snape-'

'It's Sev! Geez, Piper,' he exclaimed and we laughed. I was enjoying my time with him. He was funny. He was sweet. Yeah, he sounds very cliché, but I liked him. He'd never be him, though. Never in a million years. The waitress came over to take our order. I ordered a mocha, and he a lemon tart.

'Okay, I'll be back with your order in a minute,' she said.

'Thanks,' we said, then resumed our conversation.

'So,' I started, 'I've told you about me. Tell me about you.'

'Well, my parents were _huge_ "Harry Potter" fans-'

'Who isn't?'

'True that. Anyway, they love Snape, like every other "Harry Potter" fan, so they named me Severus.'

'Oh, my, does it look good,' I said when our food arrived.

'Obviously. Did you think I'd bring you to a bad place?'

''Course not. Just… it looks _so_ good.'

'Well, don't wait, dig in,' he said, and bit into his lemon tart. I tasted my mocha, and it was as good as it looked. We were enjoying our food, when Sev suddenly screamed, 'OWW! Oh, holy **(I'm too shy to write the F word here, so imagine he said it. Then again, I rated the story T, so no issues)** fuck!'

'Oh, shit,' I said when I saw what happened. Somehow, a little screw had ended up in his tart, and his mouth was bleeding horribly. I ran to get the waiter, who called their medic. He winced when he saw the wound and said, 'He needs to go to the hospital as quickly as possible.'

He was in some serious pain. And I knew who caused it.

'I'll see you in the hospital tomorrow, 'kay?' He nodded, too much in pain to answer, or because he couldn't.

I ran out of the restaurant and caught Leo running back to the hotel. I was always the better runner, so I caught up with him easily.

'What in frickin' Tartarus did you do that for, you **(Swearing!)** asshole!'

'I didn't like him, or the way he was looking at you,' was his _amazing_ reply. I scoffed.

'Like it's your business to look after me and see if the guy I'm going on a date with is worthy, or trustworthy!'

'It's a pact you automatically sign when you become best friends!'

'Well, maybe I don't want you as my best friend. In fact, you're not, Leo, so screw you!'

As soon as I said that, I immediately regretted it. The anger ebbed away. He didn't even disagree, though his face showed deep pain. No matter what, he'd always be my best friend, and me his, and I had just failed my best friend.

After a while, he took a shaky breath and said, 'You know what? You're right. I'm not a good best friend. Apologize from my side to _Sev_ ,' he said, and walked away, leaving me to cry on my own and think about my horrible decisions, and how I and Leo were torn apart so unfairly.

I went to the hospital to meet Sev. I told him everything. He took everything so lightly. When he found out I'd just broken up with my best friend, he smiled, took a piece of paper and wrote, "GO BACK TO YOUR BEST FRIEND. I'LL BE FINE. JUST DON'T FORGET TO CALL ME EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, OK?"

I smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek, before leaving for the hotel. I walked back the long way, sad songs playing in my head over and over.

When I finally reached the room, I couldn't even admire its beauty, because Nico dragged me to a little campfire they had made on the terrace.

Hazel greeted me on the roof, 'Hey, Piper! We're playing Truth or Dare! Wanna join? Or do you wanna go lie down?' I was about to say lie down and go into deep sleep, but then I saw Leo sitting there, working on one of his little projects. I knew this was my chance to make it up to him, so I said, 'Sure!'

Percy looked pretty ecstatic.

'Well, since you just came into the game, you can start,' Percy said.

I looked at Leo and said, 'Truth or dare, Leo?'

 **Okay, so this chapter's not fully done. I'll upload Chapter 4 soon enough. See you soon! Bye, guys! And try and review.**


	4. Truth, Dare or- she did what, now?

**Okay, so sorry I didn't update in the holidays! I didn't have my laptop, or Internet! But anways, here's Chapter 4! This is the characters playing Truth or Dare, so not very important until the end, but you can read the whole thing if you want to watch them have some well-deserved fun.**

 **Piper**

 _Previously- Piper turned to Leo and asked him, 'Truth or Dare, Leo?'_

He looked up, and his look of indifference was like a knife through my heart, but I held my face straight and said again, 'Truth or dare?'

'Dare,' he said, keeping his project down. The thing he was working on kind of reminded me of those helicopters he'd sit and make during class at the Wilderness School, which usually earned him 20 rounds of the basketball court. I'd screw up later in class just so that we could jog around together, enjoying each other's company.

I smirked and said, 'Sing the chorus of _Mockingbird_ by Eminem to Frank.' I thought I saw a bit of surprise and fear in his voice as he shakily agreed. Percy, Nico and Reyna were the only hard core Eminem fans other than me, so they were laughing like there was no tomorrow. Frank was completely weirded out, like, _What's so funny? It's just a song!_

"You'll find out soon enough, Frankie," I thought, as Leo began to sing:

 _Now hush little baby, don't you cry_ _  
_ _Everything's gonna be alright_ _  
_ _Stiffen that upper lip up little lady, I told ya_ _  
_ _Daddy's here to hold ya through the night_ _  
_ _I know mommy's not here right now and we don't know why_ _  
_ _We fear how we feel inside_ _  
_ _It may seem a little crazy, pretty baby_ _  
_ _But I promise momma's gon' be alright_

Now everybody was laughing. Frank gave Leo a punch on the shoulder, and he screamed, 'Dude, the f-'

He seemed to remember that he was talking to a guy who considered "Gosh darn!" as explicit, and quickly changed his statement to, 'Freakin' hell!' Frank looked like he'd been slapped.

Leo gave me a look, like, _I'm still not talking to you, but it's_ on _._ Honestly, that was good enough for me.

Leo then asked Percy, 'Okay, man, since you seem to enjoy laughing at me, truth or dare?'

Percy sat up straight. 'Double dare, Valdez. Bring it _on_.' Leo smirked and said, 'Read out aloud page no. 5 to 6 of Last Olympian to us, please? Or,' pause for effect, 'Would you rather burn 5 of your mom's specialty blue cookies?'

Percy looked ready to kill, and trust me; you don't want to be in front of his sword when he is angry. He finally said in a bitter tone, 'I'll read.'

I don't know exactly _what_ was on page 5 and 6, but whatever. He tried to grab lifelines, 'Well, I don't have a copy right now…' he faltered when he saw Leo pull it out from behind his back.

He handed it to Percy, who began to stutter, 'I-I-I- , Okay, f-fi-fine. List-Listen clo-close-closely, be-beca-because I-I'm not gon-gonna repeat it,' and started to read.

 _She pursed her lips._

Naturally, I interrupted. 'Uh, who's she?' Percy replied, 'R-Rach-Rachel,' and immediately continued.

" _Look, just forget it for now. Let's pretend we're a couple for normal people. We're out for a drive, and we're watching the ocean, and it's nice to be together." I could tell something was bothering her, but she put on a brave smile. The sunlight made her hair look like fire._

 _We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bags._

" _Okay," I said. "Just a normal afternoon and two normal people."_

 _She nodded. "And so . . . hypothetically, if these two people liked each other, what would it take to get the stupid guy to kiss the girl, huh?"_

Everybody visually gasped, and _that_ was _not_ helping Annabeth's mood.

" _Oh . . ." I felt like one of Apollo's sacred cows- slow, dumb, and bright red. "Um . . ." I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than . . . well, than some other girls I knew._

'It's Annabeth, isn't it? The other girl?' clarified dear Nico, thereby proving that these idiots wouldn't know to shut their mouth if Camp depended on it.

 _I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt._

 _I'm not sure that I would have done next, but I was so distracted, I didn't notice the huge black form swooping down from the sky until four hooves landed on the hood of the Prius with a WUMP-WUMP-CRUNCH!_ Hey,boss! _a voice in my head said._ Nice car!

 _Blackjack the pegasus was an old friend of mine, so I tried not to get too annoyed by the craters he'd just put on the hood, but I didn't think my stepdad would be a real stoked._

" _Blackjack," I sighed. "What are you-" Then I saw who was riding on his back, and I knew my day was about to get more complicated. "'Sup, Percy."_

 _Charles Beckendorf, senior counselor for the Hephaestus cabin, would make most monsters cry for their mommies. He was huge, with ripped muscles from working on the forges every summer, two years older than me, and one of the camp's best armoursmiths. He made some seriously ingenious mechanical stuff. A month before, he'd rigged a Greek firebomb in the bathroom of a tour bus that was carrying a bunch of monsters across country. The explosion took out a whole legion of Kronos' evil meanies as soon as the first harpy went flush._

 _Beckendorf was dressed for combat. He wore bronze breastplate and war helm with black camo pants and a sword strapped to his side. His explosives bag was slung over his shoulder._

" _Time?" I asked. He nodded grimly._

 _A clump formed in my throat. I'd known this was coming. We'd been planning it for weeks, but I'd half hoped it would never happen._

 _Rachel looked up at Beckendorf. "Hi."_

" _Oh, hey. You must be Rachel. Percy's told me . . . uh, I mean he mentioned you."_

 _Rachel raised an eyebrow. "Really? Good." She glanced at Blackjack, who was clopping his hooves against the hood of the Prius. "So, I guess you guys have to go save the world now."_

" _Pretty much," Beckendorf agreed. I looked at Rachel helplessly. "Would you tell my mom-"_

" _I'll tell her. I'm sure she's used to it. And I'll explain to Paul about the hood." I nodded my thanks. I figured this might be the last time Paul loaned me his car. "Good luck." Rachel kissed me before I could even react._

Percy finished, and everyone turned to look at his girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, a.k.a The Terrifier. She looked ready to burst, and that was _not_ good. Percy gulped.

Then, Percy snickered. Then Annabeth snickered. Then the two of them were full out laughing. I shut them up with a little charm-speak added to an otherwise harmless "Shut the hell up." They did, like good, obedient… kids (They might not like being called dogs. On the other hand, I just mentioned that that was my original statement, so it makes no difference. Don't forget to come to my funeral).

'Why, in dumb, stupid Hera's name are you two laughing?'

Percy said, 'She has known.' Great. Now, he sounds like a priest warning dumb humans about some powerful female goddess, or a best friend who manages to let his friend know in time that said friend's girlfriend found out he's cheating on her. Yeah, dumb stuff like that goes through my mind. Deal with it.

'What?'

Percy clarified, 'I mean, she knew long back about Rachel and my little… thing. She took out her rage then and there. I was fine after a week, though my sword arm hurt for quite some time. Now, it's kind of a big joke.'

He smirked at Leo. 'Sad, Leo. Just sad. And here I was thinking you'd give out the worst dares.'

Leo sat up straight. 'A small setback. We shall meet again, Jackson. Until next time,' he said in one of those James Bond villain voices.

Percy scanned everyone in a very unnervingly detailed manner, like a predator checking out his prey. He finally settled on Jason, who was acting like a Dementor and sucking away our fun time.

'Truth or dare, Grace?' He looked up from the fire, blinking out those unfocused (but cool) beams of light you get from the quick switch in… okay, I'll stop giving you Physics explanations now. Class dismissed.

'Um, dare?' Percy grinned, and Jason knew he'd walked straight into the trap. He seemed to gulp down a HOLY SHIT!

Lucky for Jason, the dare wasn't at all bad. 'Smile and laugh for 10 minutes.' Jason groaned, before giving us that trademark smile that was useful in building my old crush on him.

He looked at Nico and asked him the dreaded question.

Nico put his hand on his chin and pretended to think (Or he really was thinking. You can never tell with Nico). He –finally- said, 'Hmm… how about truth?'

Jason seemed to have thought he'd choose dare, because he had to think a while before saying, 'Nico, are you bi?' He looked confused.

'What?'

'I mean, are you bisexual?' He looked stunned now.

He asked, scared to answer, 'Uh, can I pass?'

'Sure you can Nico,' I said, glaring at Jason's horrible truth. Like, seriously? You can't just ask crap like that!

'Well, then, it's your turn, Nico, so let me help you out here,' said Leo, and before we could protest, he whispered something in Nico's ears. Nico got a lopsided grin and looked at Percy and asked him the question.

'Uh, truth,' Percy said, confident that nothing would go wrong. Wow. I thought such a great warrior might have better instincts, because he was _way_ off-track.

The two of them asked Percy simultaneously, 'Would you have dated Rachel if she hadn't become the Oracle?'

'You're trying to get me killed, aren't you? And, to answer your question, I would probably have dated Rachel for a while before leaving her for Annabeth.'

Silence.

I broke the ice by saying, 'That,' pause, 'was the _worst_ truth answer I have _ever_ heard, and I've played tons of Truth or Dare games, so trust me on this one.'

Percy retaliated with, 'Well, sorry to disappoint, Piper. Were you expecting me to give you a lecture with a PowerPoint presentation?'

'Nah, I prefer dumb books in a dumb point of view,' I shot back. He stopped talking after that, but I felt that he was seriously hurt, because he'd spent a lot of his time on those books and sometimes stayed up writing so he could spend the day with us, but I was too pissed at his childish behavior that I couldn't care less.

Percy asked Reyna the question, and, being the true Roman she is, she chose dare.

'Well, then, please kiss Nico,' Percy said casually. Reyna seemed to choke.

'Uh, say that again?'

'Kiss Nico,' Percy repeated and sat down, as casual as can be.

Luckily Reyna said, 'Well, sorry, but no thank you,' she said and passed.

Percy tried to protest, 'Hey, she can't skip!'

I parried, 'Oh, so is that rule restricted to guys only, you disgusting sexist?'

Yay. Another mistake. He didn't talk to me for the rest of the night.

I absolutely _sucking_ _suck_ at friendship, don't I? But I had a job to do. There were best friends to make things up to.

'Anyway,' I continued, looking wistfully at Leo and Percy, and thinking about our messed-up friendship, 'Reyna, it's your turn.'

Reyna turned to Nico and asked him, 'Truth or dare?'

Nico sat up straighter. 'Dare.'

Reyna smirked and said, 'Reanimate a skeleton and ask it to marry you.' At this, even Jason and Leo cracked up. Nico looked as if someone had accused him of liking a girl. Finally, he turned around and thrust out his hand, palm down, eyes closed in fierce concentration. I thought about Sev, which led me to think of Harry Potter, which led to me biting the inside of my cheek to resist saying "Up, broomstick, up!"

Suddenly, a hand shot out of the ground at Nico's feet. I'm surprised Nico was able to stand unflinching. Me, I would've run into the bedroom, cried and screamed "Any God but Aphrodite and Hera, help me!"

After the hand came out something unexpected. About two feet to its right, the hip came out, and my amazing imagination thought of a butt coming out of the ground.

Soon, the skeleton was out. Suddenly, Percy and Annabeth stood up. I wondered why, and then I saw the shirt he was wearing. I t was an orange shirt with a faded "Camp Half-Blood" written on it.

Nico smirked and made a flipping gesture, and the skeleton spoke.

Now, I know you're expecting him to say something on the lines of 'I'm alive!' which is a weird thing for a reanimated corpse to say in itself, but this guy – or girl – said something on a whole new level of weird.

'Finally! Percy and Annabeth got together, huh? I've been waiting to see them together for a long time. Thanks, Nico.'

'You're welcome.'

I made a time-out gesture. 'Uh, don't want to sound rude, but who are you?'

The skeleton grinned and said, 'Oh, sorry. I'm Beckendorf.' That was all that needed to be said. Percy ran forward and tackled him in a hug.

'I'm sorry,' he muttered.

I don't know if it was just me, but it looked like Beckendorf wiped away a tear from his eye as he said, 'Huh? For what? You've done _nothing_ wrong. It was my sacrifice. I knew it had to be done, so I did.'

Percy laughed. 'How's Silena? Castor? Zo _ë_? Luke?' Before he could ramble on, Beckendorf held him by the shoulders and shook him, saying, 'Hey, they're fine. They're all good. Now, why was I brought here?'

Annabeth snickered, 'I'll let Nico explain.' Beckendorf turned expectantly to Nico, who gave Annabeth the I-will-kill-you-later look, then turned to Beckendorf, kneeled down and asked him, 'Charles Beckendorf, will you marry me?'

Beckendorf was stunned (duh). 'Ooo-kay, I'll be heading back to Elysium now,' he said before running back to the hole from whence he came and jumped back down to Heavenly Hell.

It was quiet for a while, before Nico said, 'Beware, because whoever I choose will not be given anything easy.' He thought for a while before turning to Hazel.

'Truth or dare, sis?' Hazel's eyes widened. Poor thing.

'Uh, t-tr-tru-truth?' Nico showed no mercy. 'How many times have you and Frank kissed?'

Hazel looked like she'd been slapped. Of course, to you that might not like a bad truth, but Hazel is from the 1940s, where kissing was pretty much considered taboo. 'Um, four,' she answered. She looked shaken up for a moment, before she looked back up, anger evident in her face. Even Nico took a step back. Then she looked at me and asked me the question.

'Uh, truth,' I said. Thankfully, she was new at this and I got it easy. 'DO you like someone other than Jason?'

'Yes.' She gasped. 'Really? Who?'

I smiled. 'Now, that wasn't part of the question, was it? I just took the full truth, then poured some out.'

Everyone groaned. I smiled and rubbed my hands together. 'My turn.'

I turned to Frank. 'Truth or dare?'

'Dare,' he said, not at all worried of what I was gonna make him do. Turns out I'm merciless.

'Watch the music video for Animals by Maroon 5,' I said, and the color drained from his face, before I continued, 'With Hazel.' That drained all of his color. **(As I value my fellow FanFiction readers' sanity, I am warning you: DON'T. WATCH. THE. VIDEO!)**

Annabeth went and got her laptop. We went on YouTube, and I typed in the song. Then Hazel and Frank began to watch it. I found the starting sickening, where he's chopping meat. Then for a while it was just "ugh!" before the truly disgusting part came, where these two people are- **(I can't think about it, it makes me want to throw up! So either check out the highly unrecommended video or just use your imagination)**.

After that traumatizing video, Hazel sat in a corner, shivering and shocked by those haunting images, while Frank, who was less traumatized, though traumatized all the same, asked Jason after a while, 'Truth or dare?'

Jason looked up from his phone. This whole time, he'd been playing "Hill Climb Racing"? What the hell?

'Uh, truth,' he said, ( _finally_ ) putting away his phone.

I guess Frank's brain had short-circuited from the video, because he asked Jason the _worst_ truth _ever_. Like, ever (You have no idea how badly I want to sing "We Are Never Getting Back Together" right now).

Anyway, the truth Frank asked was, 'Why are you sad?'

Jason said, 'I'm not saying anything, pass. Uh, Annabeth, you can have my turn,' he said and resumed staring at his phone screen. Seriously, he's gonna need higher powered glasses soon enough.

Annabeth looked at me and asked, 'Truth or dare?'

I sighed. 'Dare, I guess.' Annabeth smirked, and I knew I was in deep schist, 'cause trust me, you do _not_ wanna be part of an Athena child's crazy plans.

'Kiss Leo or Frank,' she said, and before I could smirk and say "You didn't say where!" she clarified, 'On the lips for at least 5 seconds.'

I looked at Leo, who was tinkering with that project of his again. I knew this was my chance. I took a deep breath, then tapped Leo on the shoulder. He looked up, and without thinking, without any indication, I pressed my lips against his.

 **There. Done. It's the holidays, so you can expect a quicker update than this time. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Oh, and Merry Christmas!**


	5. Wilderness School

**Hey! So here's Chapter 5! And to those people who haven't read my other stories, I got a** _ **huge**_ **lecture about bad words because I used it on a guy who says "hi" by punching you. Anyway, I'm not swearing anymore, but these are 17 and 18 year-olds we're talking about here. I'm thirteen, and I swear a lot, so think about them! So, I'm gonna use these- ***- whenever a swear word is spoken.**

 **Disclaimer for the first and last time: I do not own Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus. Okay? You happy? Happy New Year!**

 **Leo**

I was paying hardly any attention to the game and what I was building. That was one of the awesome things about being a Hephaestus kid; you can think about the new movies being released while working on a watch that can turn into a shield (Percy wanted one, though I'm not sure why). Currently, however, I was not thinking about Deadpool (Yes, I watched it, and yes, I _love_ it. Nothing wrong with that). I was thinking- surprise! – about Piper.

Man, I still remember the day she came over to the Wilderness School. I was walking to the gym room; because that's one of the places I can sit and build in peace. That's when I saw her. She was glaring at those "popular" b****s who annoy her, and anyone else who doesn't have the same reputation as them.

So I walked over to the new girl. She gave me one look and started, 'If you're here to tease me even more-'

I stopped her right there. 'No, I'm not here to tease you.' I held out my hand, and said, 'Leo. And you?'

I didn't really expect her to answer, but, hey, it was worth a shot. Yet, she shook it and said, 'I'm Piper,' and a sense of achievement came over me, like, _Yay! A girl didn't diss me!_

For the next few weeks, we hung out a lot. We'd sneak out of bed and just sit in the basketball court and talk, where she'd compliment my way with the machines and I'd compliment her voice and singing abilities. We laughed so much over the way she sang "Not Afraid", in a face mocking the anger you can always see in Eminem's face.

I still remember the day I planned on asking her out. I'd come out of my dorm, all excited, my dorm-mates sleep deprived because I'd been practicing all the way down to 2 am. We were walking to English, and I was just about to ask her, when she bumped into Jason. Sure, that's a memory that Hera planted in our heads, but for some reason, we still

I still don't understand how she just fell head-over-heels for Jason. Sure, he was good looking and confident, but what about me? I always thought. Wasn't _I_ the guy who'd been there for her when people teased her? Wasn't _I_ the one who befriended her when everyone else wouldn't, just because she was part tribal? Any other guy would've gotten angry and left, but I stuck around, because I had a small, small, hope, that she'd just be best friends with him or something. That hope was the death of me. I'd set up a camera on the roof, because it had a good view of the basketball court, and I'd record all our times there.

I hate that camera.

It recorded Piper and Jason's little _thing_ up there, and I saw it. I saw that smile on her face as she kissed Jason. It dropped out of my hand as I watched, and when it fell and broke, the image of those two got burned on to the screen. I was so angry, that I threw it out of the campus, and I think it hit that idiot _venti_ Dylan's head.

When I found out that those things with Jason were all fake memories from the Mist, I thought that Piper would forget him. But oh, no. Her mom had other ideas. She fell even _more_ in love with Jason.

Of course. Rather an amazing and disciplined kid of the king of the Olympians, than a scrawny little kid born of her husband who she cheated on, doesn't clean up regularly, and looks like when he _does_ bath, he does so in grease.

Wow. Put it that way, and now even _I_ don't wanna date myself, unlike my previous philosophy.

Right now in the present, I was adding a few finishing touches to that little mini-copter I'd built as I hurtled towards Ogygia, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up, and a pair of lips landed on mine. Since I was pretty shocked, my eyes were wide open. And guess who was kissing me.

Now, I gotta admit that I thought that she wouldn't be that good a kisser, since Jason was not very keen on kissing whenever she wanted. Shy of crowds and what they'd think is what he told me once. Idiot. Well, he's the one who lost the experience.

She actually _does_ kiss pretty well. Without meaning to, I leaned in closer **(In the backsea- *sigh* I gotta stop that, huh?)** and pretty soon, we were making out.

I don't know how long we kissed, but when we finally pulled away from each other, the fire was dimming, she was on top of me, the others were gone, and I was on the ground. I finally managed to speak.

I started, 'Piper, I-' but she ran. I tried to follow, but she was quicker. She managed to just lock her door before I could stop her.

I banged on the door, called out to her for almost an hour, before sliding down with my back to the door. I swear I heard her sob, and I was close to sobbing myself.

After a while, I heard a door open. I opened my eyes to see Hazel coming towards me. She was wearing a T-shirt I'd bought her saying "I'm worth more than gold" and shorts.

'Hey, Haze,' I greeted her.

'Hey, Leo,' she said and sat down beside me. We sat in silence for a while before I asked, 'So, why are you up?'

She shrugged. 'I couldn't sleep. I was having nightmares of you and Piper kissing,' she joked.

'Yeah, haha,' I said, and we drifted off into silence again, just enjoying being with each other (Don't look at me like that, Frank). Finally, I couldn't stand it, and broke the ice.

'How long?' I asked, and Hazel frowned, confused.

'Sorry, what?' she asked. I shook my head and said, 'I mean how long were me and Piper… you know.'

'Oh.' Silence. Finally, she spoke.

'I'm not exactly sure, but I think after about ten minutes-'I did a double take.

'Ten minutes?!' Hazel laughed. 'Yeah,' she said, then continued, 'After the ten minutes, we left to our rooms.'

Wow. Just wow.

After a while, Hazel got up and yawned. 'Well, I'm gonna go and sleep now. You'd better, too. We've got a long day of travel tomorrow. Percy wants to get to at _least_ Nebraska.'

'Oh,' was my amazing answer. I said that I'd go sleep, but didn't move.

Hazel shook her head, as though reading my mind. She crouched down beside me 'Hey, Piper is strong. I don't know what happened between you two exactly, because you haven't exactly told us, but you'll get through it. Right now, try to get some sleep. You need it.' Then she walked away.

I still didn't move for some time (This time it was because my legs were asleep). When I finally managed it, I went into my room and got into the bed. Usually, I would've jumped around screaming "It's so soft!" and annoying everyone else, but tonight, no one's on the mood for my bulls**t, and I need my sleep.

I fell asleep soon enough (Actually I didn't, but I know how much you fans worry about me, so I didn't wanna worry you).

The next day, I woke up all tired. I went in the washroom, brushed my teeth and had a refreshing shower. The water was extremely hot, but I didn't even notice.

Afterwards, I changed into a "Chainsmokers" T-shirt (No, not the "Go F*** Your #Selfie" one. Who even likes that song?)and some jeans, and went out into the hall.

Now, I might not be an architecture fanatic like Annabeth, but _damn_ , what a nice room. It was almost square shaped, and each room's entrance was at the edge of the side of the square. Each side was close to 100 feet in size, and the hallway into the main hall was covered with a bunch of inspirational quotes, like, _Never let go of your dreams!_ Straight ahead from the hallway was the entrance to the terrace.

'Um, guys?' I called out. No answer.

'Hello? Guys? Where are you? Percy? Nico? Jason?' Then I heard a _ping!_ sound. I looked at my phone, and saw a text from Jason.

 _Where the f r u? We gotta go! Percy's getting kinda angry. Get down here now!_

 **Where's the room key?**

 _It's on the TV stand._

 **Got it! Be there in 5!**

I don't think I've run faster in my life. Duffel bag on my shoulder, I didn't even wait for the elevator. I took the stairs skipping three at a time, thankful for the carpeted ground. You must be wondering, _But Leo, why are you running so fast? It's not like Percy's gonna do anything._ Truth is, no, Percy won't do something. He'll do _everything_. It's not exactly fun listening to him yell.

When I reached the ground floor, I saw Annabeth waiting for me. As soon as she saw me, she went to the receptionist, some brunette. Annabeth gave her the credit card just as I pulled up next to her.

'Morning,' I panted. She nodded, took the credit card back, and I gave the receptionist the room keys. Together, I and Annabeth took off running once again towards the RV.

As soon as I got in, Percy took one look at my T-shirt and told Piper, who was riding shotgun, 'Don't put any "Chainsmokers" songs,' and started to drive. I sighed and went and sat with Frank, who was drinking Coke from a plastic cup.

'How late am I?' I asked Frank, and he took his mouth off the straw and said, 'We came down at around nine o'clock.' I looked at my watch and my eyes almost came out. It was ten forty-five. Correct my math, but doesn't that mean they waited an hour and forty-five minutes?

I smiled to myself, then went up to the front and said, 'Hey, Percy.'

'What?'

'I, um, just wanted to say, thanks for waiting for me that long. And sorry as well, 'cause that was a pretty sh***y thing for me to do.'

I saw the side of Percy's mouth twist into a smile. He turned to Piper and said, 'Play it. We've been siting for long enough without the year's best music.'

Piper smiled, and tapped something on the phone. Once I heard the beginning, I just grinned, said, 'Thanks,' and going back to my seat. As I walked back, everyone was smiling. They started to scream, 'THREE, TWO, ONE!' and all of us sang along.

I smiled, then started, 'I have a pen, I have an apple!'

 **HAHA! You expected a better song, huh? All that build-up to make them sing** _ **that**_ **? I am laughing so hard, I can barely breathe. Can you guess which song I'm referencing? Anyway, I'll upload the second part to this chapter** **soon.**

 **And now, something I'd like to say to all of you. The story doesn't have many reviews. To all of you, I'm saying that for a writer, a review is the** _ **world**_ **. We love reading reviews. So, review! Something, anything! I'm just saying, typing a few words in that box at the bottom of the page makes us writers love you. So, please, REVIEW!**


	6. Author's note you shouldn't care about

**Okay, I know, I haven't updated in a long time, but it's because I'm working on this new story, so as soon as that is uploaded (which will be in maybe two or three days), I'll work on this story.**

 **I** _ **promise**_ **I'm not giving up on this story. I will complete it. It's just four or five more chapters, so, yeah.**

 **Again, I'm not giving up, I'm probably gonna update on the same day as the new story is published.**

 **Also, sorry.**

 **Well, bye! Love you!**


	7. Worry and swimming

**Hey guys! Sorry for the extreeeeeeeeeemely late update. Here's Chapter 6 and please, please review!**

 **Also, sorry for the serious language.**

 **Percy**

We were driving along and were actually having a fun time. The songs were being repeated quite a bit, sure, but it was fun. We sung along to songs, made jokes and laughed. It almost looked like Leo, Piper and Jason were back to normal. Unfortunately, Jason was completely ignoring the other two. And Leo and Piper… what was the deal with those two?

Last night had been crazy. Leo and Piper were on a rough patch. If you're wondering when Aphrodite possessed me, she didn't. I know this because I and Annabeth had gone through similar troubles. I just hoped that they'd sort out their differences pretty quickly, because everyone's mood was very much down, and they've got to take responsibility for the bad air.

We stopped at Burger King for breakfast, where nothing eventful happened, and the same when we stopped at a McDonald's for lunch.

We had lots of fun making fun of Hazel's innocence by putting on songs that had a lot of swearing, like " _Starboy_ ", and we finally stopped at around nine pm. We got our bags and looked the building up and down. It was square and huge, with blue walls and signs advertising all the great things they had inside.

The entrance to the hotel was on the left side of the building. We entered the hotel. Once through the door, straight ahead there was the reception, where a girl about twenty sat, watching something on the desktop.

Piper went up to her and began getting us the rooms, while I had a look around. The place definitely looked good. The lobby was pretty huge. A kind of yellowish tinge covered the walls, and brilliant paintings of landscapes and waterfalls decorated the room. The floor was hidden under a light brown carpet. Red sofas were pushed up against the wall, were people sat either staring at their phone or reading some magazine.

Piper came back with the room key, grinning like crazy.

'You're gonna love this place,' she told me as she walked to a pair of push doors by the washrooms.

I walked through the door and almost died, because I think my body forgot to breathe.

I was standing in one of the biggest atriums I'd ever seen. There was no ceiling, and the top was really high up, maybe close to 100 metres. The room was in square shape, and at the far end of the room stood a glass elevator.

That wasn't the main attraction, though. In the center of the atrium stood a _huge_ swimming pool. The moonlight reflecting off the pool created brilliant patterns over the glass surrounding the atrium. I could make out halls all the way around. I counted ten floors.

I wanted to jump in right away, but Annabeth read my mind (as always) and immediately stated, 'Not yet, Seaweed Brain. We don't have your powers, do we?'

'Yeah, let us change, _then_ we'll jump in too,' Nico said.

I saw Hazel whisper something in Frank's ear out of the corner of my eye.

'What is it, Haze?' Piper asked.

'I…didn't pack my swimsuit,' she said, as if this were some big crime. I sighed internally, thinking about the other things I'd have to teach her.

'That's okay. We can just, you know, buy another one,' Jason said nonchalantly, and I immediately dramatically gasped and screamed, 'Jason Grace talked!'

He rolled his eyes at me and said, 'Yes, I did. I have no problem talking. I just won't to these m***f**s,' he said, pointing at Leo and Piper.

Quick as lightning, Leo ran and shoved Jason to the ground. He screamed at Jason, 'Say that once more! Say that again, I dare you!'

Jason looked equally pissed off. He stood up and said the word again. I ran and caught Jason's arms to stop him from beating the crap out of Leo. Leo looked like he might kill Jason, and started stepping towards him, but luckily Frank caught him.

Then, just when the two of them looked like they'd cooled off, of _course_ Piper had to come over and ruin things for me and Frank.

'Jason, I swear to God, if you use that kind of language again, I will charmspeak you off a cliff!'

Oh, _now_ she decides to say this?

'You're the one who broke up with me for no reason!' Jason exclaimed.

'Oh! So who's Reyna, then?'

'Nobody!' Whoa!

Nico nudged Reyna, who was checking something out on her phone. She looked up and saw us looking at her.

'What?' None of us said anything. Nico whispered something in her ear, but she didn't seem affected. Since we were still looking at her funny, she said, 'Okay, fine.'

She turned to Jason, gasped and said, 'Ouch! That hurt so much!' before looking at her phone again. It was pretty obvious everyone was trying not to laugh at Jason.

Jason didn't look happy (actually, I couldn't tell exactly _how_ he looked, but judging from the others' expression, he wasn't looking his usual good looking).

Just when Jason's breathing came back down to normal, 'Why'd you say that Jason?' Piper asked. Sometimes, I just wish I could

Finally, I said, 'Okay, that's it. Jason, Leo, Piper, you guys better pull yourselves together. You don't wanna talk to each other, fine. Whatever. But don't ruin our first chance in forever to relax. Now, tonight, I'll be watching. If you guys start fighting again, I'm just gonna leave you here. So, behave yourself.'

That shut them up. I mentally gave a sigh of relief, before saying, 'Good. Now, apologize to each other.'

Jason did so pretty grudgingly, but Leo and Piper looked like they actually meant it.

Annabeth clapped her hands together. 'Well, now that that's settled, how about we go upstairs, get some rest, then come back down to take a swim.'

'Isn't that what we were going to do in the first place?' Nico asked.

'Yeah, but with all the drama these three were causing, I didn't think you'd remember.'

'Uh, is this a bad time to remind you I forgot my swimsuit?' Hazel repeated.

'Oh, right. Um, I and Frank will go to the store with her and you guys can go up to the room, 'kay?' I announced.

'Yeah, I got the room key,' Piper said, 'And the room number is 353.'

'Got it. See you in a bit, guys,' Frank said before we parted ways (Whoa, that sounds like we'll never meet again. See, I'm optimistic!).

We exited the atrium.

'Wanna watch a movie?' I asked everyone as we left the restaurant.

'Uh, which one?' asked Piper.

'Pixar!' Frank exclaimed.

'If we're watching Pixar, "Wall-E",' Leo said.

'Nope! We're watching "Up",' Annabeth said. Then the two of them started arguing.

I went up to Piper.

'Oh, um, hey,' Piper said when she saw me.

'Hey.' We didn't say anything more for a while, before she finally asked, 'Did you mean it? I mean, about leaving us here if we didn't stop fighting?'

'Nope. You know me, I can't leave anyone behind.'

'Right.' We fell into a sort of comfortable silence again, before I spoke up, 'What _is_ the problem between you guys?'

She gave out a sigh. 'Frankly-'

'What?!' Frank called out from the back of our group.

'Nothing!' I yelled back. Annabeth and Leo were _still_ arguing, Jason was on his phone _again_ , Reyna and Nico were debating the better DJs – The Chainsmokers were Reyna's choice and Nico was all for David Guetta - , and Frank and Hazel were just holding hands, enjoying each other's company. I flashed back to the countless times I and Annabeth had walked through New York, and smiled. They looked so…perfect. I have no other words to describe what I thought about them (Whoa, I'm going all Aphrodite again).

'Uh, continue,' I told Piper, who started speaking out.

'Frankly, I'm not sure. My break-up with Jason, then Calypso - you know, passing on, I and Leo just fell apart. Jason – there's something wrong with him. I just can't pinpoint it. He's acting weird, don't you think?' I nodded.

Once we reached our hotel room, which was a large square room with a balcony on the opposite side of the room, a TV to the left, and doors to our bedrooms covering the rest of the wall, we ran for our rooms. I closed the door, then jumped on the bed and started unpacking my bag, searching for my swimming trunks. Once I found it, I threw it on the bed and tan out of the room into the empty hall.

Soon, the others came out with their swimming costumes.

'Okay, let's go!'

We ran to the elevator, which took us down to the floor below the swimming pool, which was the changing room.

The changing room was relatively smaller than the atrium, but it was still one of the largest changing rooms I'd ever seen. The showers lined the left, and there were rows of lockers all through the middle, and the actual changing rooms were to the right.

Seeing as it was around nine pm, no one else was there. We went up to the changing rooms, and as soon as I was inside, I ripped off my clothes and put on my swimming trunks. I quickly ran out into the hall, where no one had come yet.

After a minute or so, the others came out of their rooms, dressed in their swimming clothes. Piper, Annabeth and Hazel wore a single piece, whereas Reyna refused to wear any swimsuit as she didn't want to get in the pool. The others guys were also dressed like me, wearing swimming trunks.

We then went over to the lockers. I chose 353 ('cause that's our room number, making it easier to remember) which I shared with Annabeth, Frank and Hazel took 467, Jason took 425, Piper and Leo took 403, and Nico and Reyna took 322. I'm not sure why I just told you which locker they all took. Eh.

As soon as we were done with that, we ran for the showers. I just stood under for five seconds before running to the elevator, grinning like a maniac.

'Oi, slow down, you maniac!' Leo yelled after me.

'I don't need to slow down, you guys need to become faster!' I yelled back as I repeatedly hit the elevator button.

'Calm down, man,' Leo said as he caught up with me.

'Can't,' I told him just as the elevator's doors opened with a pleasant "ding!"

I ran inside and waited for everyone to get inside before pressing the button labelled 0.

I ran out of the elevator, not even bothering to stop to put down the towel around my shoulders (considering the fact that it had flown into Frank's face when I ran out of the elevator) and dived into the pool. The cool water hit my face, and I didn't stop. I swam diagonally, right to the bottom of the deep end, and sat down. For the first time in a long time, I felt like those gazillion weights on my shoulders had diluted to nothing, leaving me light and happy.

A moment later, I felt the water move, ripples forming on the blue surface. _Probably them checking to see if the water is warm_ , I thought. Then, a blast passed through the water. I floated up to the surface, wondering what punishment should be given to the jerk that had cannonballed into the water and interrupted my moment of peace. At the wrong time.

I felt a sharp pain in my head, and went underwater once more, this time with someone on top of me.

The guy on top of me went limp, and I swam out from underneath him.

I came out of the water, Leo following seconds later.

'You fell on me?!' I said.

'Oh, you're one to complain! My butt hurts!' Leo said.

'Wait, I thought Percy had a seaweed brain,' Reyna wondered aloud, standing outside the pool in a white T-shirt and jeans.

'Well, see, seaweed needs water, and for the water to not leak, you'd need a thick skull. Therefore, Leo's butt has every reason to hurt,' explained Annabeth.

The silence that followed was broken by Nico's laugh. Pretty soon, we were all finding it hard to stay afloat, as we were laughing our butts off (Save for Leo, who could only laugh his head off, as when he tried to laugh his butt off, it hurt).

After we were done with the butt business, we had a few swimming races and a water volley match, before we got out of the pool and headed over to the elevator.

We got our clothes and headed back up to the room.

'Wanna watch a movie?' Reyna suggested when we came back out of our rooms in our normal clothes.

'I ain't watching unless it's horror,' Jason said.

'Dude, no one wants to watch horror here,' Frank said. He has a specialty in the field of knocking sense into people.

'Animation?' Piper suggested.

'Yeah!' Leo agreed.

'Lion King!' Nico said immediately.

'What?' Hazel questioned.

'What the- She hasn't watched a classic, people! Put the movie into the DVD player!'

No one argued, so twenty minutes later, we were seated on the couch in weird positions to accommodate everyone, watching "The Lion King".

I could tell you we acted like mature people and didn't sing along to " _Hakuna Matata_ ". The only problem is I'd be lying.

It's not an easy task, try it out yourself!

After the film was finished, Hazel still giddy from watching a classic, and the rest of us on a high from rewatching our childhood favorite, I got into bed.

This day had actually gone pretty okay. I found myself wishing that tomorrow would be this good.

And that Leo, Piper and Jason would stop fighting.

 **Hey! As I said earlier, sorry for the super late update. Do read and review!**

 **Also, I think it's time I replied to your r** **eviews:**

 **Guest-**

 **How old are you this suck confusing never know who pov...**

 _ **Are you, like, blind or something? It's written at the top of the chapter, you dumb sh*t!**_

 **Katelyn (guest)-**

 **I have no idea what they're singing but this is such a good story you MUST continue!**

 _ **Thanks! Also, they're singing PPAP. (Don't check it out. It's horrible.)**_

 **Demiwizard dragon girl-**

 **HOOOOLLLLLLLYYYYYYY SSHHHHHHHIIIISSSSSTT!  
This chapter, I like it. ...  
ANOTHER! PUUUUULLLLEEEEEZZZZZ!**

 _ **Thanks! Glad you liked the chapter!**_

 **CutieMiria** **-**

 **The song is thriller by Micheal Jackson and good story but try and add a bit more detail :D**

 _ **I tried to add in a bit more detail, just as you asked! Is it good enough? Tell me through your review! Also, you guessed the song! OMG!**_

 **Guest-**

 **I LOVE THANKS FR TH MMRS**

 _ **Same here. That's why I put it in.**_

 **Iluvleo13** **-**

 **such a great story, please update soon! i luv this**

 _ ***gasp***_

 _ **Someone likes my story. YES!**_

 **Demiwizard dragon girl** **-**

 **This. Is. AWESOMELY AMAZINGSOME!  
PLEASE UPDATE SOON!**

 _ **YOUR EXCITEMENT IS WEARING OFF ON ME! I'M WRITING IN CAPS, SEE!?**_

 **Bye guys!** __


	8. Nightmarish Nightmares

**Hey guys! I hope you liked the previous chapter! Anyway, here's Chapter 7!**

* * *

 **Nico**

I woke up with my head swimming. I looked at the clock set up in the room, which said 7:00 am.

I figured no one except Annabeth would be up this early, and went into the washroom to brush my teeth. I washed my face with cold water, which refreshed me. I then got out of the washroom and sat down on my bed, thinking about the dream I had last night.

As usual, it was Percy, Grover, Thalia, Zoë Nightshade and Bianca as they fought against Talos. Frankly, I was getting bored of seeing the dream over and over again. Plus, the fact that it reminded me of Bianca's death didn't help.

I shrugged it off, and got out of bed. This trip was to get our mind off all that, to feel normal. I was feeling pretty normal. Glad not to be a brooding guy anymore. I was having a good time, and that was more than what a lot of demigods get.

I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, then pulled on my jacket. I walked out of the room into the hall, and saw Annabeth on her computer.

'Good morning,' I said, still feeling a bit sleepy.

She managed to tear her eyes away for a moment, where she saw me, smiled, and returned the greeting. Then she jumped right back into the Internet.

I went up behind her, asking, 'What are you watching?' I started laughing when I did.

'What?' she questioned.

I stopped laughing and asked her, 'Nigahiga? Seriously?'

'Hey, it's funny!' she argued.

'I'm

I went back to the laptop, and told her, 'You know, his "I Dare You" videos aren't as good as his other videos. Have you seen his "How to Sing like Your Favorite Artists"?'

I spent the next ten minutes showing her, all the best Nigahiga videos, like "How to be Ninja". Turns out she's new to his channel, but she was more interested in how _I_ knew who Nigahiga was.

'I used to watch his videos with Bianca at Westover Hall, when we were done with homework,' I replied, remembering those couple weeks at the boarding school. I continued, 'I had no friends, whereas she did, and she'd find me in our room, playing Mythomagic with myself, wondering why I had no friends. She'd play with me for a while and then get her homework done quickly before helping me with mine. Then we'd get on the laptop her super rich friend had gifted her for Christmas-or her birthday, I don't remember-and she'd show me videos, and a bunch of other stuff.'

I looked over at Annabeth, who was smiling. 'I never knew Bianca all that well. Wait, scratch that, I didn't know her at all.' She patted to the seat beside her, indicating that I sit. I sat, and she closed her laptop, before looking at me, her elbow on the table, her palm on her cheek, and said, 'Tell me about her.'

I rolled my eyes at how she looked like a kid waiting for a bedtime story, before getting down to it. I recounted my memories at the Lotus Hotel and Casino and our trip to Westover, everything that happened at Camp Half-Blood while Percy was away, and how things were during my self-imposed exile.

It took me a while to realize that I was done talking about Bianca, and was telling her literally _everything_ that happened to me, things I'd never told anyone, but I didn't stop. I kept on going, telling her everything without a care in the world.

When I finished, she smiled, then said, 'Do me a favor, will you? Tell this to everyone in the RV. It's a good substitute for music, and honestly, I'm done with "I Took a Pill in Ibiza".'

Then she grabbed her laptop and went over to Percy's room, knocking on it and calling, 'Percy, get out! Do you wanna get to Las Vegas or not?'

I perked up. 'We're going to Las Vegas?'

Annabeth looked at me and smiled. 'Old memories, huh?'

I nodded. 'Yeah. Seems like an eternity ago.'

'Well, let's hope we make some good memories this time,' she said, before turning back to Percy's door and screaming, 'All right, that's it! I'm coming in, Jackson!'

She pushed on the door, which opened into the room. Percy immediately woke up.

'What the hell, Annabeth? I'm not wearing any clothes!' I heard him complain as she shut the door.

'Oh, stop being such a wuss, I've seen you naked already,' I heard her saying. I snickered as I went into my room, where I shut the door, took off my clothes, and got into the shower. Hot water poured over my body. It was a bit too hot for my liking, so naturally, I said, 'Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Hot, hot, hot, goddamn!'

Once I managed to get the water down to warm, I took my shower, and then went out into the room.

I decided to wear a green T-shirt (Of course, one that said Green Day).

I went out into the hall, where everyone was sitting at the dining table and looked like they'd just woken up. Probably because they had actually just woken up. Reyna looked so weird. Her eyes looked like they were saying; _You have to wake up_ just _when I start getting some sleep?_ It was hilarious.

I sat down next to her, and looked around. Leo seemed fine, and so did Piper. I hoped they weren't acting so that they wouldn't be stuck in Nebraska, but were actually over their troubles. Jason was talking to Frank about how they used to get bad quality weapons just because they were in the Fifth Cohort.

I told them, 'Wow. Seriously, stop whining. You got your weapons for free, at least. I had to get mine forged in secret. Without my dad knowing. In my dad's domain. Then came the problem of paying the forger with denarii. Plus, you're still amazing fighters.'

Frank took a moment to think about it, before replying, 'You know, that's a valid point.'

'Is that why you came to Camp Jupiter? For denarii?' Jason asked. I nodded.

'I figured as much.'

I looked over at Hazel, who was watching the videos I showed Annabeth with Piper and her. Leo was sitting with Percy, chatting about which M. Night Shyamalan film was worse- _The Last Airbender_ or _The Happening_. And Reyna was sitting all alone, and although she'd always assure me that that was the way she liked it, I knew she was lying.

I went and sat next to her. 'Morning,' she greeted me, to which I replied the same to her.

'So, what has happened that has caused you to sit with your face in depression?' I asked.

'A depressing event, duh,' she replied, and the undertone of sass made me want to kill myself. There's only a certain amount of sass you can deal with in life, and I'm pretty sure I crossed my limit a long time back, when I met Percy.

Nevertheless, I asked her, 'What is this depressing event?'

She looked at me with intense eyes, and said, 'Promise you won't tell?' I nodded, desperate to find out what had broken her.

She beckoned for me to come closer, and I did. She whispered into my ear in a barely audible sound, 'Mufasa died.'

I rolled my eyes at her incredible lameness, and said, 'Oh, really? I thought Rafiki is the one who dies.'

She smirked. 'I'm just messing with you,' she said, as she sat down into a normal position.

Percy seemed to win in his argument. 'Yes!' he shouted, jumping out of his seat. Annabeth sighed, and asked him, 'What did you win this time, sweetie?'

He grinned at her, and said, 'I managed to make Leo admit that _The Happening_ is worse than _The Last Airbender_ , because it had a better villain.'

Annabeth obviously didn't seem impressed. 'Good for you,' she said, before getting up and going into her room, but not without giving us a casual reminder that the last person to get ready will be made navigator for our 15-hour trip, which is not a person no one wants. We ran into our rooms, where I thanked God for giving me the idea to take a shower as soon as I woke up.

I came out of the room to find Jason and Leo, where the awkwardness and hatred began to show. When Jason went out into the hall to get a soda, Leo breathed a huge sigh of relief. Then, he turned and saw me.

'Oh, hey. I didn't see you there,' he said. I went and sat down next to him, and since I didn't want an awkward silence, I asked him the first question that came to mind, which happened to be, 'Did you like the movie last night?'

He nodded. 'My life is the epitome of "Screw Hakuna Matata".' I nodded in agreement.

Soon, Frank came out, followed by Hazel, then Annabeth, Reyna, Percy, and finally Piper. Piper looked kind of happy when she saw she was last. We got our bags, then left the room. Percy and Piper stayed back to pay, while the rest of us went to the RV.

Percy and Piper stayed back to pay, while the rest of us went to the RV.

I got in first, and immediately booked the seat a bit behind and in between Percy and Piper, making it look like a triangle. There was a place for food storage beside us, which, as my gift, had expanded it into a cooler as well, so that it could store cool drinks, and so that it could store much more than it looked like it could.

I reached for a Coke at the same time as Frank, who had come for a Pepsi. I looked back, and saw that Frank, Hazel, and Leo were sitting at the very back by the luggage, Annabeth was with Reyna, and Jason was alone at the seat behind me, to my right. I sighed. What was wrong with him? He next to never used profane language, but last night…I shuddered from just thinking about it.

Jason reached over, asking, 'Hey, di Angelo, pass me a Pepsi, will you,' his eyes never wavering from the phone. I rolled my eyes, saying, 'Take it yourself.'

He looked up (finally), although his threatening look didn't frighten me in the least.

'Pass me a Pepsi, Nico,' he managed through his gritted teeth.

My decision didn't change. 'Take it yourself, a-hole,' I replied, a peaceful look on my face, which he probably found even more irritating.

Just when it looked like he was going to hit me, something I would love oh-so-much to return, Percy came in.

'Hey guys. So, all tucked in?' he asked us. I heard Leo yell from the back, 'Get to the driving, and Piper, guy in need of Eminem here.'

Piper cracked a smile, which I'm pretty sure everyone had been missing up to that point. 'Sure,' she said.

'Any other requests?' she asked as she sat down. I asked, 'Oh, um, play _Castle on the Hill_ , please.'

'Radio personality Piper is taking requests,' she yelled once more, and this time, a few more song requests, like _Heathens_ , _Bye Bye Bye_ , _Reminder_ (the one by "The Weeknd", a request from Jason, for some reason, because that's a pretty lame song), and then someone asked for **(*guess this song*)**. There was a pause, after which Piper said, 'Okay, now that song is awesome, so that's going to the top position on the queue.'

Percy began to drive, and Piper hit play, and the first words rushed out, and I grinned, and everyone started singing along.

 _When I was six years old I broke my leg  
I was running from my brother and his friends  
And tasted the sweet perfume of the mountain grass I rolled down  
I was younger then, take me back to when I_

 _Found my heart and broke it here  
Made friends and lost them through the years  
And I've not seen the roaring fields in so long, I know I've grown  
But I can't wait to go home_

 _I'm on my way  
Driving at 90 down those country lanes  
Singing to "Tiny Dancer"  
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real  
We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill_

 _Fifteen years old and smoking hand-rolled cigarettes  
Running from the law through the backfields and getting drunk with my friends  
Had my first kiss on a Friday night, I don't reckon that I did it right  
But I was younger then, take me back to when_

 _We found weekend jobs, when we got paid  
We'd buy cheap spirits and drink them straight  
Me and my friends have not thrown up in so long, oh how we've grown  
But I can't wait to go home_

 _I'm on my way  
Driving at 90 down those country lanes  
Singing to "Tiny Dancer"  
And I miss the way you make me feel, and it's real  
We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill  
Over the castle on the hill  
Over the castle on the hill_

 _One friend left to sell clothes  
One works down by the coast  
One had two kids but lives alone  
One's brother overdosed  
One's already on his second wife  
One's just barely getting by  
But these people raised me  
And I can't wait to go home_

 _And I'm on my way, I still remember  
These old country lanes  
When we did not know the answers  
And I miss the way you make me feel, it's real  
We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill  
Over the castle on the hill  
Over the castle on the hill_

We finished singing, smiling. Jason screamed, 'Woo! That was awesome!'

Percy turned back to look at us, and yelled, 'Yeah, it was! Piper, great job on that last "We did not know the answers"!'

She smiled. 'Thank you.'

Then I saw something strange on the road. A woman and man were fighting. The man was holding the woman by her hands. She, however, managed to break free. She ran straight onto the road.

'Percy, look out!' I yelled at him, who was checking out the queue Piper had set up.

He looked up to see her running onto the road, and swerved to the left. He lost control of the wheel, and the last thing I remember is Percy screaming, 'Head down!' before we hit the divider.

* * *

 **Ooh, sh*t! What do you think is gonna happen?**

 **Also, think you can guess the song? I'm gonna make some action happen next chapter, so brace yourselves.**

 **Also, I have an announcement. We currently have 14 followers, right? Plus two or three or more from this chapter. So, I'll be expecting that many reviews, or the update is not gonna come. I mean it! We need reviews, people! Look at the number of reviews up there! We can do this! So, review!**

 **Disclaimer (because I want to increase the word count): Rick Riordan owns PJO, thankfully. As I've made clear in one of my stories, it would probably suck if I wrote or even owned it.**

 **Bye!**


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